Slashdot Mirror

Now, I doubt that the problem with affordable education is simply a shifting of funding from the state to the individual

I'm not so sure.

Just looking at round bald numbers from the ten year interval of 1999 to 2009 you can see that Student Tuition at Central Michigan has grown 2.6 times, while the total budget has only grown 1.7 times. And state funding has held steady over those years.

Bottom line Figures for 1999 show Tuition totaling $79,762,133.
Bottom Line Figures for 2009 show Tuition totaling $214,308,670
Tuition grew to 2.6 times the 1999 values.

State Funding was $79,796,415 in 1999 and $80,064,200 in 2009, a virtual wash.
Total revenue was $227,472,170 in 1999 and $397,036,721 in 2009 or 1.7 times.

This is without regard to the total number of students, but the fact that Tuition increase of 2.6 times matches so closely the Cost Per Credit hour growth of 2.6
would suggest that the enrollment was not dramatically higher, and this is born out Here where 2002 undergrad enrollment was 17k, and 2011 enrollment was 19k.

(Total compensation (wages) increased by 1.6 times over that interval. It seems the revenue isn't all flowing into faculty pockets)

So Without becoming a CPA, and chasing every penny, its clear that the student out of pocket expenses have grown at a rate vastly higher than the University budget as a whole. The vast majority of the expansion in the budget is from tuition.

The cost of the of a college education has expanded to absorb the available student loan money.

Now, I doubt that the problem with affordable education is simply a shifting of funding from the state to the individual

I'm not so sure.

Just looking at round bald numbers from the ten year interval of 1999 to 2009 you can see that Student Tuition at Central Michigan has grown 2.6 times, while the total budget has only grown 1.7 times. And state funding has held steady over those years.

Bottom line Figures for 1999 show Tuition totaling $79,762,133.
Bottom Line Figures for 2009 show Tuition totaling $214,308,670
Tuition grew to 2.6 times the 1999 values.

State Funding was $79,796,415 in 1999 and $80,064,200 in 2009, a virtual wash.
Total revenue was $227,472,170 in 1999 and $397,036,721 in 2009 or 1.7 times.

This is without regard to the total number of students, but the fact that Tuition increase of 2.6 times matches so closely the Cost Per Credit hour growth of 2.6
would suggest that the enrollment was not dramatically higher, and this is born out Here where 2002 undergrad enrollment was 17k, and 2011 enrollment was 19k.

(Total compensation (wages) increased by 1.6 times over that interval. It seems the revenue isn't all flowing into faculty pockets)

So Without becoming a CPA, and chasing every penny, its clear that the student out of pocket expenses have grown at a rate vastly higher than the University budget as a whole. The vast majority of the expansion in the budget is from tuition.

The cost of the of a college education has expanded to absorb the available student loan money.

Now, I doubt that the problem with affordable education is simply a shifting of funding from the state to the individual

I'm not so sure.

Just looking at round bald numbers from the ten year interval of 1999 to 2009 you can see that Student Tuition at Central Michigan has grown 2.6 times, while the total budget has only grown 1.7 times. And state funding has held steady over those years.

Bottom line Figures for 1999 show Tuition totaling $79,762,133.
Bottom Line Figures for 2009 show Tuition totaling $214,308,670
Tuition grew to 2.6 times the 1999 values.

State Funding was $79,796,415 in 1999 and $80,064,200 in 2009, a virtual wash.
Total revenue was $227,472,170 in 1999 and $397,036,721 in 2009 or 1.7 times.

This is without regard to the total number of students, but the fact that Tuition increase of 2.6 times matches so closely the Cost Per Credit hour growth of 2.6
would suggest that the enrollment was not dramatically higher, and this is born out Here where 2002 undergrad enrollment was 17k, and 2011 enrollment was 19k.

(Total compensation (wages) increased by 1.6 times over that interval. It seems the revenue isn't all flowing into faculty pockets)

So Without becoming a CPA, and chasing every penny, its clear that the student out of pocket expenses have grown at a rate vastly higher than the University budget as a whole. The vast majority of the expansion in the budget is from tuition.

The cost of the of a college education has expanded to absorb the available student loan money.

Just like college tuition. The easier it is to fund an education the more expensive it gets.

I was going to go there, but the last time I did on Slashdot I was immediately pounced on and pummeled by people who work for universities and colleges. Apparently I had gored some sacred ox.

Finding any historical cost per credit hour data was fairly hard, schools don't really want you to see this.
I finally found some for the University of Nebraska, Kearney, a state funded school, where a 2011-12 credit hour costs $168. Back in 1964-5 this cost was 9 bucks per credit hour.

Using the Dollar Times calculator $9.00 in 1964 had the same buying power as $65.73 in 2012. So, instead of charging $65.73/ch, UNK is now charging$168, or 2.5 time the inflation equivalent per credit hour.

Kearney isn't alone in this, Central Michigan is actually worse.
They charged $85.50/ch in 1993, which had the same buying power as $135.98 in 2012, but they are charging $358/ch or 2.6 times inflation.

Admittedly, state funding levels may have changed, and more money may now be raised by tuition and fees with less tax dollar input.
Its hard to know, without digging thru the University budgets over the years.

But in any event, I suspect that you are correct, that the cost of college expands to absorb the available funds.

Odds are they'll simply tell him that linux is not supported under their network.

Disallowing operating systems other than Windows might make certain parts of CMU's computer science program more difficult for students.

That may very well be one of the intended effects of the "policy". Vendor sales teams embedded in the board of regents or, more likely, in the so-called IT department would have a snowball's chance in hell of changing the curriculum to suit their whims if they even had the cheek to try. Howwever if they dress it up as a "security" problem no one will ask, but if they do they can deny influence by distrcting from the fact that the students are supposed to be able to do course work on these same computers.

I'd agree with the earlier posts: switch schools.

The CSA will make the following changes to your system:

• Enable Windows Automatic Updates
• Remove Network Bridging
• Ensure Anti-virus application and up-to-date virus signatures

The real problem with this is that the University is asking the student to download and run software without properly identifying what it does. That's called "badware" by StopBadware, run by the Harvard Law School, Consumers Union, etc. Phrases like "exceeds authorized access" apply. And remember, this is a state school; they face the legal constraints on state actors. For example, the rule that "Most political advocacy is unacceptable" is a blatant First Amendment violation as applied to students. Report that to EULA Watch and the ACLU. The ACLU is already dealing with some other suppression of free speech by the CMU administration, so this probably won't surprise them.

It's not even clear whose Client Security Agent they're talking about. There's one from Cisco, one from Bradford, and one from Microsoft. The description mentions that it turns on Microsoft's automated updating. That means all the latest Microsoft security holes (like the one that makes Firefox execute Microsoft .NET content) are opened up.

Someone compared this to working for a company. It's not. As a student, you're the customer, not an employee. Also, in a corporate setting, if Central IT messes up your desktop machine, Central IT has to fix your desktop machine.

The real problem with this is that the University is asking the student to download and run software without properly identifying what it does. That's called "badware" by StopBadware, run by the Harvard Law School, Consumers Union, etc. Phrases like "exceeds authorized access" apply. And remember, this is a state school; they face the legal constraints on state actors. For example, the rule that "Most political advocacy is unacceptable" is a blatant First Amendment violation as applied to students. Report that to EULA Watch and the ACLU. The ACLU is already dealing with some other suppression of free speech by the CMU administration, so this probably won't surprise them.

It's not even clear whose Client Security Agent they're talking about. There's one from Cisco, one from Bradford, and one from Microsoft. The description mentions that it turns on Microsoft's automated updating. That means all the latest Microsoft security holes (like the one that makes Firefox execute Microsoft .NET content) are opened up.

Someone compared this to working for a company. It's not. As a student, you're the customer, not an employee. Also, in a corporate setting, if Central IT messes up your desktop machine, Central IT has to fix your desktop machine.

I am assuming that you will be living in the dorm, otherwise the CMU website gives a list of ISPs. http://www.oit.cmich.edu/it/it_isps.asp The list includes mobile broadband cards from Sprint, etc., so I'm not sure what you mean by no wireless broadband providers, though this would be a huge downgrade from the internet speed you can probably get on campus.

The Acceptable Use Policy looks to be general CYA boilerplate B.S. which lets you know that you have some expectations of privacy, but don't hold your breath if there's a subpoena or other legal action trying to get the data. As to the CSA, this appears to be an overreaction to the perceived security risks of Windows systems. On the other hand, bandwidth is expensive, and the IT department may have decided that this is a good way to prevent the spread of viruses and bots on the campus network. All of this is probably academic as it doesn't look like it's Windows only. http://www.oit.cmich.edu/faq/faq_network_dialup.asp#get Mac or Linux should probably work.

I am assuming that you will be living in the dorm, otherwise the CMU website gives a list of ISPs. http://www.oit.cmich.edu/it/it_isps.asp The list includes mobile broadband cards from Sprint, etc., so I'm not sure what you mean by no wireless broadband providers, though this would be a huge downgrade from the internet speed you can probably get on campus.

The Acceptable Use Policy looks to be general CYA boilerplate B.S. which lets you know that you have some expectations of privacy, but don't hold your breath if there's a subpoena or other legal action trying to get the data. As to the CSA, this appears to be an overreaction to the perceived security risks of Windows systems. On the other hand, bandwidth is expensive, and the IT department may have decided that this is a good way to prevent the spread of viruses and bots on the campus network. All of this is probably academic as it doesn't look like it's Windows only. http://www.oit.cmich.edu/faq/faq_network_dialup.asp#get Mac or Linux should probably work.

Odds are they'll simply tell him that linux is not supported under their network.

Disallowing operating systems other than Windows might make certain parts of CMU's computer science program more difficult for students.

There are a bunch of possibilities, should you still want to get her an interesting ring some day.
Tektites are generally believed to be glasses formed in the wake of meteor impacts. Many obsidians cool while falling through the air after a volcanic explosion. (Both are basically glass, and not very strong.) A decent machinist could cut a ring out of a chunk of nickel-iron meteorite, or it would be fairly easy to make a ring yourself by buying an existing gold wedding band and soldering a cabochon bezel setting onto it, and setting a cut and etched piece of nickel-iron meteorite in it. (I've done the latter a couple of times and they can be beautiful.)

The Columbus' anecdote seems to be true but I'm sure somewhere in the dark, dusty toe-stubbing recesses of my memory there is another anecdote of the same content dating back to Roman times. Standing an egg on end was said to be possible only on "the vernal and autumnal equinox, when the sun crosses the equator, making night and day equal on all parts of the earth."

Also at CMU, the college I attend. Not to be confused with the CMU

I've seen 2 cool ones lately:

My favorite upright bass
4 String Upright Washtub Bass
Great for roots and rockabilly.

That explains a lot! I wondered if it was my power supply, my UPS, or something bigger. I believe that my video card may have been damaged from the bad capacitors on my mobo also. Here is a picture of my bad 8K7A. I wonder if EPoX is doing any replacements or repairs.

You spent time in this building, which makes you better than most. Try not to take that as my acceptance of your divinity.

In response to this, I've created a little GNOME applet that queries http://www.caiso.com/SystemStatus.html every few minutes and updates a little graph showing current power usage in CA. It's nifty!! Download it here: Powerload

http://labwww.csv.cmich.edu/luke/expl ain.html

I actually work for a university as the webmaster responsible for our online distance learning department. We don't offer any kind of CS degree, so my opinion is only biased by my own prejudices. These are also just my personal opinions. Now, to the questions I may be able to help you answer...

> What are the policies on transfered credits, and 'Challenge for Credit' (testing out of a course for full credit) ?

Every program is accredited by one or more accrediting bodies. There is no such thing as "fully accredited". There are only agreements between colleges and accrediting agencies on what a course or program is *worth*. Therefore, if you plan on transferring credits between institutions you will need to contact the destination institution to find out if that course (and be specific that it is a DL course) will transfer and how the credits will be treated (i.e. if and how they can be applied toward the degree).

>I do NOT want a buy-a-degree type thing. I'm more then willing to put in the effort and go through the course load...

I would not recommend Phoenix. They are the most together, have the most courses, the most degrees, the best marketing, and are pretty high on customer service. However, they are also the most expensive, most commercial (as in for-profit-mercenary), and least interested in providing a good education. They can get you your degree - though not an education - and they will make sure you pay for it.

In the *realm* of distance learning Maryland and Colorado are good schools. (I'd like to think we are too, but I'm biased and we don't offer CS anyhow.)

Also, watch out for programs that make you use *special* software to access their classrooms or that outsource their online materials. A lot of this software is terrible. If the university doesn't have or is not willing to commit the resources to develop their own online classrooms then they probably aren't ready to deliver at a distance. Think about it: do would you outsource your core business functions?

<rant>This software/outsourcing course creation thing chaps my beans... it's whole purpose is to allow the instructors to create courses on their own, so the university doesn't have to make a large investment in actually supporting the development, the faculty, or the students. Don't get me wrong, the instructors are always experts in their fields, but is it really reasonable to expect them to be experts in multimedia development and online delivery as well? They don't even write books without a team of editors and graphic designers to support them! How can you expect them to be experts at web and media design and the tools they require? Is it reasonable to think we can *dumb* the process down that far and still produce a quality product? I don't think so either... no wonder DL is getting a bad name. A good course can only be created by a team that includes experts in design, programming, and GUI as well as experts on the subject matter.</rant>